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July 29, 2015 at 01:46 PM
(Bloomberg) — Zurich Insurance Group AG said any offer for RSA Insurance Group will probably be in cash.
Wednesday’s statement from Zurich means “there’s a very high likelihood that it will come through with an offer in the next few weeks.” said Ben Cohen, a London-based analyst at Canaccord Genuity Corp.
Zurich’s deliberations are a sign of a revival in mergers among European insurers, crimped by tighter regulation and the debt crisis. Allianz SE, Europe’s biggest insurer, and France’s Axa SA may also bid for RSA, whose shares have trailed peers in the past year, analysts said.
RSA is planning to hire Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Robey Warshaw to advise on a possible sale, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley is advising ZurichInsurance.
RSA fell 2.3 percent to 506.5 pence at 11:09 a.m. in London, after gaining 18 percent on Tuesday, the biggest advance since the company was formed from a 1996 merger between Sun Alliance Group and Royal Insurance Holdings. Zurich dropped 0.2 percent, extending yesterday’s 1.8 percent decline.
